Issue published: 31 December 2019

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The neoliberal hybrid in East-Central Europe. The ‘treason of intellectuals’ and its current re-assessment

Attila Ágh, p. 355–381

Abstract: The Europeanised, progressive intelligentsia in East‑Central Europe (ECE) made a fundamental mistake in the nineties that amounts in some ways to the ‘treason of intellectuals’ and the basic re‑assessment of these naïve illusions has only begun nowadays. Motivated by the radical change in the ‘miraculous year’ (1989) the progressive intellectuals uncritically accepted and supported the Europeanisation in that particular form as it entered into the chaotic days of the early nineties, since they naively thought that its negative features would automatically disappear. In good faith, they created an apology for the established neoliberal hybrid and they sincerely defended this perverse Europeanisation against the increasing attacks of the traditionalist‑nativist narrative. With this action they have been unwillingly drifting close to the otherside by offering some ideological protection for the ‘really existing’ neoliberal hybrid instead of criticising this deviation from genuine democratisation in order to facilitate its historical correction. However, due to the emergence of the neoliberal hybrid, the ‘external’ integration by the EU has resulted in the ‘internal’ disintegration inside the ECE member states. There has been a deep polarisation in the domestic societies and after thirty years the majority of populations in the ECE countries feel like losers, and they have indeed become losers. This controversial situation needs an urgent reconsideration, which is underway both in the EU and in the ECE as a self‑criticismsideration, which is underway both in the EU and in the ECE as a self‑criticism of the progressive intelligentsia. Thus, this paper concentrates on the reconsideration of the main conceptual issues of Europeanisation and Democratisation in ECE.

Keywords: neoliberal hybrid, external integration and internal disintegration, shared sovereignty with multinationals, upward convergence and empowerment of ECE

The New Foreign-Policy Pendulum: Geopolitical Codes of German Foreign Policy in the Post-bipolar World Order

Rebin Fard, p. 383–418

Abstract: This article deals with the question of how German foreign policy can be characterized from a geopolitical perspective in an era in which the constellation of world politics is undergoing change, as evidenced by the conflict in Ukraine, shift in US foreign policy under President Trump and the on‑going Brexit negotiations. In order to identify changes in the geopolitical orientation of German foreign policy and sketch a profile of German foreign policy, the article includes official German government documents. It can be concluded from the study that the geopolitical codes of German foreign policy are of a varying character, and can be characterized into three geopolitical spatial structures: the Atlantic, European and Eurasian regions. In terms of the geopolitical orientation of German foreign policy, the Federal Government develops German strategy in a multipolar world system, in which it aims to turn Europe into a world power. While the continued existence of NATO remains a goal of German foreign policy, the Federal Government, in unison with France, seeks a multipolar world order, in which Germany and France assume leading roles within the European spatial structure, and are liberated from US supremacy in the transatlantic spatial structure.

Keywords: geopolitical codes, German foreign policy, foreign‑policy pendulum

The Difficult Look Back: Slovenian Democratic Path after European Union Accession

Miro Haček, p. 419–441

Abstract: In the third wave of democratic changes in the early 1990s when the Central and Eastern European (CEE) political landscape changed radically and the democratisation processes started in the eastern part of the continent, Slovenia was one of the most prominent countries with the best prospects for rapid democratic growth. Slovenia somewhat luckily escaped the Yugoslav civil wars and towards the end of the 20^th century was already on the path towards a stable and consolidated democracy with the most successful economy in the entire CEE area. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Slovenia had a simple and straight‑forward political goals, i.e. to join the European union as soon as possible, thus consolidating its place among the most developed countries within the region. After some setbacks, this goal was accomplished in (so far) the biggest enlargement to the Union in May 2004. But what happened after Slovenia managed to successfully achieve its pair of major political goals? In this chapter, we search for an answer to this question and find out why Slovenian voters are increasingly distrustful not only of political institutions, but why so‑called new political faces and instant political parties are so successful and why Slovenian democracy has lost a leading place among consolidated democracies in CEE.

Keywords: Slovenia, European Union, membership, distrust, democracy

Authoritarian Liberalism in Contemporary Europe: methodological approaches and conceptual models

Maxim Popov, p. 443–458

Abstract: The author conducts a comparative analysis of authoritarian liberalism’s concepts in contemporary political theory. The paper deals with the main directions of interpretation of authoritarian liberalism in the framework of methodological approaches and conceptual models of neoliberalism, ordoliberalism, political liberalism, J.-W. Mueller’s ‘restrained democracy’, J. Habermas’ ‘legitimation crisis’, C. Crouch’s ‘post‑democracy’, C. Macpherson’s ‘participatory democracy’, M. Wilkinson’s ‘dedemocratisation and delegalisation’, W. Streeck’s ‘democratic capitalism crisis’ and G. Majone’s‘ crypto‑federalism’.The basic analytical concept is the idea of authoritarian economic liberalism, first proposed by H. Heller and K. Polanyi. This paper will substantiate that in crisis and transformational periods the actualisation of authoritarian liberalism corresponds to the fundamental tension between market capitalism and representative democracy. The author conceptualises authoritarian liberalism as the practice of dedemocratisation and restrained democracy, which results in the regionalisation of radical protest against the supranational regime of political integration in Europe. Latent political authoritarianism strengthens economic liberalism, which, in turn, reinforces the further EU’s ‘liberal authoritarian transformation’. Authoritarian liberalism restricts traditional forms of representative democracy, contributing to the reanimation of populism and political radicalism. The authoritarian restriction of representative democracy can lead not only to the strengthening of market capitalism, but also to the revival of reactionary forms of ‘new nationalism’ and illiberalism. Today, the EU’s regime is transformed from a nominally rule‑based structure supported by market discipline into a ‘discretionary order’ reinforced by bureaucratic power. The EU’s transnational solidarity can become a democratically legitimate tool for a de‑escalation of tensions between market capitalism and representative democracy.

Keywords: authoritarian liberalism, market capitalism, representative democracy, neoliberalism, ordoliberalism, political liberalism, dedemocratization, restrained democracy, post‑democracy, legitimation crisis, transnational solidarity, European integration, EU

Proportional Electoral Systems and Number of Parties in Parliament Evidence from Macedonia

Zhidas Daskalovski, p. 459–478

Abstract: What is the best electoral system to increase the number of political parties represented in Parliament? This article answers the question using data from all the elections in Macedonia since 2002, and by making simulations of the results according to different electoral systems. In principle, we found that the electoral model that would bring most parties to the Macedonian Parliament is the Droop and Hare used in one electoral district. Moreover, the article answers the question how favourable different electoral systems are to larger/smaller parties. We find that the following is the order of electoral systems from most to least favourable for larger parties: Imperiali highest averages, D’Hondt, Sainte‑Laguë, Largest remainders – Imperiali, Danish, Largestremainders – Droop, Largest remainders – Hare.

Keywords: proportional electoral systems, favourable to large/small parties, Macedonia

Visegrad Group and its Presence in the Mashriq Region

Franziska Döring, p. 479–495

Abstract: This paper provides an outline about Hungary’s, Poland’s, Slovakia’s and Czechia’s relationships to the Mashriq region, especially Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The Central and Eastern European countries are considered both individually and collectively in the Visegrád group (V4). Therefore quantitative and qualitative indicators are examined. As one result it was found that in most cases the V4 had no common interests and consequently did not formulate common positions. But finally, the results of this work suggest that the migration crisis has indeed increased the interest of the Visegrád countries in the Mashriq and has accelerated their involvement to some extent both inthe Mashriq region and within the European Union.

Keywords: Visegrád group, Mashriq region, diplomatic relationships, Eastern Neighborhood Policy, Middle East, migration crisis

(Un)Trendy Japan: Twitter bots and the 2017 Japanese general election

Jozef Michal Mintal and Róbert Vancel, p. 497–514

Abstract: Social networking services (SNSs) can significantly impact public life during important political events. Thus, it comes as no surprise that different political actors tryto exploit these online platforms for their benefit. Bots constitute a popular tool on SNS sthat appears to be able to shape public opinion and disrupt political processes. However, the role of bots during political events in a non‑Western context remains largely under‑studied. This article addresses the question of the involvement of Twitter bots during electoral campaigns in Japan. In our study, we collected Twitter data over a fourteen‑day period in October 2017 using a set of hashtags related to the 2017 Japanese general election. Our dataset includes 905,215 tweets, 665,400 of which were unique tweets. Using a supervised machine learning approach, we first built a custom ensemble classification model for bot detection based on user profile features, with an area under curve (AUC) for the test set of 0.998. Second, in applying our model, we estimate that the impact of Twitter bots in Japan was minor overall. In comparison with similar studies conducted during elections in the US and the UK, the deployment of Twitter bots involved in the2017 Japanese general election seems to be significantly lower. Finally, given our resultson the level of bots on Twitter during the 2017 Japanese general election, we provide various possible explanations for their underuse within a broader socio‑political context.

Keywords: bots, Twitter, Japan, general election, bot detection